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I’m cleaning up my computer tonight. It’s totally bogged down with data overload. Mostly photographs. I’ve been neglectful the past few months about deleting and transferring content to the cloud or any other storage. Mainly because we’ve just been busy. But that’s still no excuse. It’s just not good on so many levels. I could lose a lot I don’t currently have stored. But primarily it’s bugging me because it’s meant some long waits for easy online tasks. Which, is just plain irritating. And I have no one to blame but myself. So I decided tonight it was time to remedy the situation. Especially after trying to upload and edit one photo this morning at the paper turned into a major, time consuming ordeal.

So I’m hanging out tonight in the Cowboy’s old recliner and cleaning the proverbial laptop house – clearing content off the desktop, wiping out unnecessary downloads, going through photo albums and deleting pics I know I’ll never use. Freeing up space.

I offer some background here because it’s relevant as to how I stumbled upon the story below ..

Among the photos I’ve had sitting on my desktop, are a few I thought would be fun to share on the Cowboy’s company FB page. I click on the page and get ready to upload when an article he posted, apparently 4 months ago, catches my eye. I’ve never seen it, nor had I thought much about the issue being discussed. And, well, I thought it was worth sharing. But I asked him about it first.

“The swirls (sworls?) post? Oh yeah,” he says. “Three swirls is bad. They really are. It’s interesting,” the Cowboy tells me tonight from his nightly perch in the kitchen where he plays guitar.

Direct from his Facebook post:

I have studied swirls for many years and believe there is something to this. Usually multiple swirls is a fairly inconsistent horse. (This is the Cowboy speaking here.) Interesting post by Chuck Nifong who shared Beadle Lake Large Animal Clinic’s status.

….Many of people have asked over the years …. What does the Swirl mean, well here you go. My Grandfather taught me this many years ago and I have found it to be TRUE *~_CN_~*

Swirlology 101- (whorl patterns). Have you ever wondered what the whorl pattern on your horse’s forehead means. Some old timers have said it can be the gateway to the soul. See if you agree.A swirl located between the eyes indicates an easy going, uncomplicated horse.

Swirls higher on the forehead indicate intelligence and a more reactive nature.Long swirls, especially those that extend below the eye indicate a friendly and agreeable nature.

Multiple swirls can indicate multiple personalities. High and tight side by side swirls can mean a horse that is super focused and talented, but challenging and difficult in the wrong hands. 2 swirls on top of each other can mean extreme personality swings and unpredictability. Multiple swirls that form a Z pattern can signal a horse that is dangerous and violent.

The direction that the whorl turns can tell you if the horse is right or left “handed” (or hoofed) . If the whorl flows counterclockwise it is left “handed”. If the whorl flows clockwise it is right “handed”. Tell us any other wives tales you have heard about whorl patterns.

Well, a lot of people do. After working in the news business for decades, I’ve realized that’s actually when most bad news is typically delivered. Press releases often go out right after the closing of the typical Friday business day (or whatever day it might be). It’s an easy out. If there is one. And it happens so that none of the decision makers can be contacted for comment until Monday and it helps delay having to deal with any fallout. Unless one is relentless in pursuing good sources, has an ‘in’ with those decision makers or you track down someone who’s been affected by the decisions and usually they’re searching for you, wanting to talk, you’re hard pressed to get your story.

I’m not good at waiting until Monday with questions I have about bad decisions made on a Friday. When I have questions, I try to go to the source in any situation as best I can and get answers. Not to be a pain, or create conflict. But to simply get answers.

I hung up the phone after talking with the Cowboy here a couple of weeks ago now. And I called our attorney for his thoughts …

“I don’t know. I really have never seen anything like this. I’m shocked by his decision,” he said. Then he added, “What don’t I know? What sort of history might you have with this judge that I’m not aware of?” he said.

——–

I caught up with a girlfriend early yesterday to go for a ride. She was off the hook to go out and help cut silage for the day – they had some unexpected help. I had enough work in front of me to last a 12 hour day. But I got a ‘please please please please please’ message from her. I couldn’t pass it up. The day was beautiful. Perfect, actually. We all know days like this are numbered as we head toward another South Dakota winter where the wicked winter winds that blow across the prairie make long rides relatively unbearable.

Barn kitty out soaking up the morning sun

Plus, time in the saddle is great to clear your head.

We also hadn’t had a chance to catch up in weeks. She was dying to know what was in the email I last wrote about. She was frustrated I hadn’t followed up yet with another post on what had happened.

“It’s best, while everything is still ongoing, to not say much of anything,” I told her.

It’s why I haven’t written much now for over a year. It’s what our attorney feels is best. He’s probably right.

My problem with that is, and I said this to her … the situation we’re in and that so many others are as well, has just about everyone afraid to talk. If you do, too much is at stake. You don’t ever want to say anything that might piss off a judge who could possibly be ruling on your case. Or any of their buddies on the bench. Because they do talk. They do keep an eye on what you are doing. And they do in turn, have absolute power to change the entire course of your life and on top of that, make you pay. Literally. In so many ways. Regardless of what actual facts in the case may be and the law.

Unless someone knows. Or digs. Or isn’t afraid to pursue what is lawful and based on fact. Or share their story. More people need to share their stories, and it is happening across the country. Because it’s time.

In the meantime, we are quite certain the fact we’ve (more the Cowboy than me) been outspoken advocates for shared parenting in South Dakota and across the nation, has in fact, affected the rulings in our own shared parenting case.

“There’s just no other logical explanation,” our attorney said, shaking his head and looking hard at us in a recent meeting to follow up on ‘the email.’ A shared parenting proponent himself, he felt absolutely terrible leaving things where they were at. He had even helped draft what this year became the new law on Shared Parenting in South Dakota and felt our case was a slam dunk if there ever was one. It is most likely one of the last meetings we’ll have with our attorney. This one …

Our computers most often anymore, get set aside over any and all weekends. Especially weekends we are blessed to have all the kids around.

So the email… the email that came in just as the workday ended last Friday that stunned us both… we agreed to forget about the best we could for the weekend and enjoy our time together. And we’re glad that we did because it may have been the last warm, beautiful weekend we’ll see for quite some time.

There was little that could be done to change the situation anyway. At that point. And, we should have expected nothing less than the news we received, given our previous experience with the South Dakota family court system.

So before I get to discussing what was in the email .. this was from Sunday night. I started journaling again right before the power went out.

….

Sunday has been a long day but a wonderful one at that – it was the first Sunday School session of fall, the whole family took part in our first O-Mok-See which lasted all afternoon… honestly, the first time I even heard the word was that afternoon when we were there. It’s different than what the kids are used to doing as well as the horses. So it was good for us.

The Cowboy and the boys left early to get to their first fall flag-football practice (which they are totally stoked about), we all got home later than we would have liked on a school night and still had to put the horses and tack away, grab a shower, a bite to eat and get to work.

The girls picked up their homework and went out to my office – the newness and privacy of it all has them excited and wanting to work out there. Needing somewhere quiet and with the Cowboy and the boys still not home, I stayed inside, sat down at the table, and started to catch up on emails, interviews yet to be logged and think through the articles due Monday morning at the paper.

The email, I still haven’t looked at it. But I already know what it says. We’re pondering the various ways we might folo-up this week.

I was talking with my uncle when the beeps came through. Two calls within a matter of moments. It was the Cowboy trying to get through on the other line.

I hesitated to switch over given we had just talked minutes earlier. Surely it could wait, I thought. But two calls. Maybe the shoeing rig finally died. Maybe there was an accident. Something had to be up. It wasn’t like him to pester.

Like this:

The clock just turned twelve. I had hoped to sit down to write hours ago. But I got sucked into a movie with the only two that were still up, the Cowboy and one of the twins. It’s been awhile that we had his littles here. The end of the school year and holidays always kind of mess up co-parenting schedules a bit, so it’s been longer than usual that we’ve seen them. We’re soaking up each moment we can, while we have them.

Besides a couple of the horses munching on the grass yet in the pasture nearby, I can hear only the rumbling of thunder off in the distance. Rain storms have been in and out of the area and throughout South Dakota since last night. The mixture of the storms along with the recent heat we’ve had, have made for some beautiful skies throughout the day – magnificent cloud formations and the sun peeking through only moments later.

After suffering through a seemingly never-ending bitterly cold winter, it all now seems so far away. The weather recently has made for what feel like those quintessential, absolutely perfect summer days. And I love summer storms. Not the crazy, violent kind – and storms around here do kick up some pretty nasty winds. I’m just talking about those refreshing summer showers, maybe some thunder and lightning. The kind you can smell coming – kind of summer rains.

As the skies cleared this evening, it just felt like one of those nights my parents used to go for walks through town when we were kids. I was wiped out, along with everyone else after a busy day. But we cleaned up from dinner and while everyone else sat down to watch a movie, I laced up my running shoes one more time and headed down the road. So glad that I did. The palette of colors that stretched as far as the eye could see, in-between very dark storm systems which were producing a heavy mist on the ground in the distance – were these gorgeous pink and orange pastels, almost like a water color painting. I picked up the pace of my leisurely walk in the hopes I might get home and grab my camera fast enough to catch even one image of it.

Not so lucky. The best colors were long gone. But I decided to grab some of the last light of day, anyway. I’m absolutely blown away at how quickly the days go by anymore. While nearly half a year has gone by already, I’m excited summer is upon us.

Love all, trust a few.

The word, trust, has come up quite a bit for us today. The Cowboy and I had a conversation about trust first thing this morning in regard to a project we’re working on together with someone – and that what we’re counting on from this other party, will happen. Trust came up again later today in regard to an article I’m working on, that I’ll do right by the people involved in it because it’s a genuinely sensitive issue.

In the midst of another interesting discussion tonight. The words, “you just need to trust .. ” were part of a lengthier text we received a few moments ago.

There are reasons, that after years .. heck even days of working with someone, living with someone, knowing someone, you just know that you can trust that person. Wholeheartedly.

Or, that you can’t. Sometimes trust goes away with one incident. Other times, no matter how many chances you give a person, no matter how much you love them or want to believe things will be different this time around, trust is just hard to come by. Why? Because they’ve shown you time and again they can’t take responsibility for their own actions or tell the truth, they’ll screw you over for fun, for spite, to get ahead or .. for really no good reason at all other than a lack of empathy, if given the chance.

Trust – and respect – need to be earned. Not demanded. And I’m amazed anymore at how often people feel these two things are a God given right. Mistrust, more often than not, doesn’t just happen. For no good reason. Heads up.

Can it be earned back? Absolutely. Do people change? Of course. But trust is a biggie. And re-gaining it doesn’t happen overnight. Or, just because someone tells you you should.

There isn’t a morning that goes by I don’t wake and put every ounce of trust I have in the Lord that people all over the world, and in our own circles, will do right by each other. When that doesn’t happen, which is often the case, I trust there is a reason we have yet to learn. And we try again tomorrow.

Like this:

It’s quiet, the kids are gone this weekend and everything that is usually in motion – sits very still. There are a lot of sounds on weekends like these, that we really miss. But instead of dwelling on what’s missing, the Cowboy and I like to take these opportunities to reconnect and get a lot of work done around the acreage we might feel guilty doing, otherwise.

So … counting the blessings that do surround us this Sunday. The sun is shining. There is a gentle, warm breeze blowing. This is a beautiful spring in South Dakota.

The snow is quickly melting.

Not sure it matters though. Another storm getting set to blow in tonight.